Ciara: Fantasy Ride

Ciara's third album has suffered a somewhat tortuous gestation: for six months it has been subject to repeated delays, aborted lead singles and more leaks than a colander. One wonders, though, how RCA could have come close to screwing up an album as sleek as Fantasy Ride. The usual who's who of collaborators is present - Justin Timberlake, The-Dream, Young Jeezy - but impressively, it is Ciara's presence that is stamped firmly on the album. Evidence that she is an underrated balladeer comes in the form of Keep Dancin' On Me, a shimmering slow jam, and the morning-after existential haze of I Don't Remember, but a terpsichorean swagger remains at the heart of Ciara's world. Few artists go as hard as she does on her club jams, whether inviting the world to "kiss my swag" over kinetic freestyle beats on Pucker Up, combining outraged soprano braggadocio with thunderous crunk basslines on the broiling High Price or gliding smoothly through the delectable, sun-kissed Echo. At her best, her pace is furious, and keeping up is exhilarating.